Looking for a shrike, are there any deals out there?  Recommended dealers?  Thanks guys.

$5,000 gets you a Shrike with all the bells and whistles
http://dealernfa.com/accessories/

For $3,000 - 4,000 you can get a beltfed MCR, which is the watered down version. Doesn't have the heat sink, missing the handle, front sight, rear sight, etc...
http://www.impactguns.com/ares-15-556mm-16in-beltmag-fed-mcr-009-854118002377.aspx

Can get cheaper off gun broker, but just be sure you know what youre buying. Also there are 5 different generations of shrikes and they later generations typically have the bugs work out and are more reliable.
gunbroker.com

More generally, what's the current opinion on the Shrike?

E.g., I've seen some videos/reviews suggesting stoppages/reliability problems--
have these largely been worked out?

Is it worth $5,000.00 for a "LMG-like Experience"?

I dont think Ares offers the heatsink any more, i also dont think its nessisary because you just swap barrels.

Also there all MCRs now.. you cant get one marked SHRIKE anymore.

Theres a 4rth of july sale coming up. Id recomend buying it direct from ares if your buying a new one..

Mine works great...it is in for repairs at the moment.

Is it worth it? Im going to buy a second one.

Id recomment getting the plastic feed guide made by this guy in Hawaii..pm me if you want his contact info.

Hmmm... Could you elaborate, if possible?

Thanks!

It is the thread like 3 posts down in the m16 forum.

Basically i put 55k-65k rounds through it over the coarse of a year, and know im having some kind of issue with it where it breaks charging handles(without pulling it)

Its a real stupid problem because i could basically still run it by locking the BCG back by pulling on the belt feed roller, or just rack it with a screwdriver. But i didnt want to do that.

Mine runs 100%  it took me a few range trips to get it working when i initially got in. But it was my first beltfed

I've been on the fence about buying one for quite some time. One day I'm all for it then the next I decide $5k is crazy and should use the money else where like buy another MG. but I think all MGs are over $5k so I'm starting to reconsider buying one, and when you think even most semi auto belt Feds made from surplus parts can run close to $10k it seems more reasonable

Thanks! I'll be on the lookout!!

When you say bounces, what do you mean? Is the receiver loose and bounces or does the BCG bounce internally?

Just curious. My Oly Arms RR doesn't have the same value or collectability as a Colt but its still expensive and rare enough I don't want to damage it.

Also, Is this still an issue with the Gen 5 Shrikes?

The whole design limitation with the Shrike is based off the available bolt carrier travel on an AR or M16 lower.    

Most belt feds have a decent amount of bolt carrier "over-travel" that allows the bolt carrier to get essentially a running start at the round in the link.  Rounds take a lot more energy to strip out of links than a box mag, so having the bolt carrier travel an inch or more farther back than the rear of the cartridge allow the bolt carrier to get up to ramming speed before making contact with the cartridge and allows it to strip from the link easier.

With an M16 lower the rear buffer ring limits rearward travel of the bolt carrier as ultimately the feed roller stud on the top of the carrier will hit the lower receiver buffer ring.  

How Ares overcomes this limitation (i.e. limited to no bolt over-travel availability) is to use a monster recoil spring to brute force strip the rounds from the links as well as "buffer bounce" off the back of the receiver tube.

The factory Ares spring also requires a commensurate amount of recoil stroke to compress it as well on top of getting a good bounce off the rear of the receiver tube.  

The shrike is also piston operated so you have more reciprocating mass (as you do with an piston system).

Add all of this up...bigger recoil spring, added piston mass, more gas to compress the recoil spring, etc.  and this all add up to a more violent action movement vs. say a normal mag fed DI M16.

You can get away with lessening the recoil by using a lighter recoil spring, tuning the gas down, etc.  However it is a fine balancing line between reliability and ROF & perceived recoil.   If you use well stretched, cleaned, and lubed links you can get away with less spring which means less gas which equals lower ROF and recoil but its all a balancing act.

Just to throw this out there again.....

When you say "are there problems with the gen 5"....you sound like your asking if the gen 5 has the bugs worked out because its the latest version...

When i spoke with ares the other week when i said gen 5 they didn't know what i was talking about amd that there aren't gen # anymore..
Mine was sold as a gen 5, and now i am receiving an updated receiver which in theory would be a gen 6 or higher.. but lets not call it that. Ontop of accepting a charging handle with a larger stronger lug, the receiver has a steel insert to help prevent the problem of AP  ammo wearing the lead in the receiver that is a slight extension of the feed ramp in the barrel only used when feeding from a belt. Many of a use a plastic feed guide in the topcover to prevent this issue and aid in feeding.

What jbntex perfectly describes is and  always will be an issue with any MCR

I guess the whole generation thin must be a sales gimmick dealers use to convince you the current model they are selling is the best.

There are things that you can do to smooth the action out.  My bud runs a rifle-length recoil system on his, with the Colt LMG rifle hydraulic buffer and a cut down MG34 spring.  I run mine in a carbine-length recoil system with the supplied ARES spring and an old AAC rate reducing buffer.  His is smoother for sure.

I've gotten a few MG34 springs, and have been considering installing a rifle buffer tube and getting one of the Kyn-shot hydraulic buffers.

My main reliability problem has been in stripping rounds from the links.  The more worn or used the links are the better the shrike runs.  I've tumbled them in corn cob and nufinish and it's slicked them up a bit.  Another bud of mine oils/lubes his links and that works pretty well for him.

How do you know that many people who own MGs/Shrikes?! I can't convince my friends to buy a gun let along a belt fed MG.

Uh - I've been doing it a long time?  I met both of these guys through my MG ownership.  One guy I met at the gun show in the '90s.  I had just gotten a new M11/9 and was carrying it through a local gun show looking for accessories and met him.  He's had one hell of a collection over the years, but has sold most of them as he has transitioned toward retirement.  The other one I met at the range in maybe 2000.  I had my first M16 with me and he wanted to shoot it.  We've been shooting together since and he has bought several MGs over the years including a lovely Colt A1.  I have a group of friends that I met through gun ownership and shooting.  Not many of my friends outside of this group are actually into guns - like none that I can think of.  That's fine.

All three of us have Shrikes.  We were depositors in the original round when the introductory price was $2495.  Two of us use host lowers and RDIAS and the other guy uses a Colt M16A1 lower.  The guy with the A1 lower uses a standard A1 rifle tube and I assume his standard rifle buffer - I'll have to find out.  He's the one who lubes the links.

And speaking of beltfeds, two of us had LM-7s until I sold mine last year to get an AM15.  Now two of us have the AM15 and one has the LM-7.  And all 3 of us are intrigued by the 9mm beltfed.  At first, we were all like "what's the point?"  But now I think we're thinking about getting them - as range toys of course.  That's all any of this stuff to us is - range toys - toys to use at the range.  None of us are under any illusions that we're some kind of tacticool operators.

I didn't have much success with the Kynshot hydraulic buffer, I could never get mine to work reliably with the Shrike even after reducing the amount of actuation stroke the buffer could compress.  It just robbed too much energy from the system and also appeared to be too light in weight and I had constant problems with rounds properly stripping from links.

I have had the best luck in reducing the ROF with the MGI buffer combined with a lighter recoil spring, but the springs nested inside the weights inside the MGI disintegrate after acouple thousand rounds, requiring stronger replacements.  I also put a large sliding tungsten weight inside the rear of the carrier as well to help slow it down.  I was running a Sprinco blue spring for some time but wore it out to where it wouldn't strip rounds reliably and since moved up to a Sprinco Red spring.  (although I may buy another new blue spring)

Given a certain set of ammo you can tune the gun to slow down by reducing the gas, using a special rate reducing buffer and/or different spring combo, and making sure your links are clean and not too tight so it doesn't take as much energy to strip a round from the link.

This is my gun from a couple weekends back with a guy shooting a Shrike for the first time.  Even with a suppressor the ROF and recoil isn't excessive and the front of the can/muzzle doesn't really doesn't climb even with the longer bursts.

http://youtu.be/BlD0duQ62s4

Are you use a RR with the shrike or a custom lower with a high cut Mag well? Hard to tell from the video but looked like the ammo pouch was sitting higher up

I think you hit the nail on the head. While the gen # used to be relevent, now its not a good thing to go by.. when i bought my "GEN 5" i thought it to be the most current model available when infact it wasnt.. since Ares just replace my receiver with the newest version for free i cant complain... so if you just bought a "gen 5" do your best to wear it out during the 1 year warrentee phase and youll get the best of both worlds. Although the cost of ammo to wear it out, it probibly isnt a big deal if at some point in the future you have to pay for a new receiver.

Custom lower I made that takes SAW boxes and pouches direct into the receiver so that they attach up much higher than using the Ares magwell adapter.   I am going to make a second one for my FM9 on of these days.

With a 200rd pouch



With a 100rd pouch and some of his mag fed friends.

Rifle length or carbine length?  Again, my bud is using the Colt LMG hydraulic buffer and a cut-down MG34 spring with great success with his shrike in a rifle length tube.  I would attempt to approximate this with the Kynshot and cut-down MG34 spring in a rifle length tube.

I'm really digging that custom lower, seems like just the ticket for both the FM9 and Shrike uppers if you've got a RLL.

You can get a uptight saw box or a side mount nutsack, I have both made by Tom Cassidy...

I bought the standard carbine length buffer.  (Part Number RB5000)   I had issues with the carrier going under the rounds and partially stripping and denting them in the process.  Basically it appeared buffer was short stroking the carrier travel and the bolt lug would grab the cutout on the cartridge between the main body and rim.   It wouldn't happen all the time but acouple times per belt.

I figured the best option was to try and reduce its actuation travel so removed the disk off the front of the buffer, cut the buffer rod/piston actuation down, and then welded the disk back on so that it would only actuate half as far before bottoming out (and the easier portion of the travel as the buffer gets harder to compress the more you compress it) and I still got occasional short stroke/partial link strip issues.  I would also  get rounds that wouldn't fully strip from the links even though the bolt lug was fully behind the rim of the cartridge.

I don't know the difference between the Colt and Kyshot regarding the amount of pressure to compress the hydraulic portion of the piston,  but I have a rifle version of the Kynshot in an AR10  and it takes even more pressure to compress than the carbine version. (although rifle kynshot works great in my AR10)

If I was to do it over again I would purchase the light load version (Part Number RB5000L) as it should require less pressure to compress and rob out less energy.

Good luck with whatever route you decide and let us know if you get it to work.